There are few certainties in the home-sale market. However, there's one thing you can count on. If your neighbors have been harboring a concern about an issue affecting your property, you will surely hear about it when the for-sale sign goes up in front of your house.  more...

The median price of homes sold in the San Francisco Bay area was up 6.6 percent in April 2007 compared to a year earlier. For homeowners waiting for a signal that it's time to sell, this could be good news. Or, is it?

Half the homes sold in a given time period sold for more than the median price quoted for that period and half sold for less. Changes in median price do not necessarily reflect changes in home values.  more...

Generally, it takes longer to sell homes this year than it did in 2006. This is primarily because the inventory of homes for sale has ballooned from the record-low inventories of recent years. When the listing inventory grows, buyers have more to choose from. They can hold out for what they really want without worrying about prices rising in the meantime.  more...

Most sales fall apart because the buyers discover something new about the transaction that they didn't know when they made their offer. This could be new information about the property, the property condition, the neighborhood, how much they can afford or the price they agreed to pay.  more...

Lofts are springing up in many nifty urban neighborhoods. Although trendier than condos, most lofts are created with a condominium form of ownership.

A unique set of considerations come into play when you buy a condo or loft. With a single-family residence, you are the sole property owner.  more...

It's not uncommon for buyers to look for six months or more before finding the right house or condo to buy. Sometimes, it takes even longer if listings are in short supply. Lucky are the home buyers who find a great property that suits their needs soon after they start their search. But, finding the right property earlier than anticipated can pose a problem for some buyers.

Common concerns are: Have I looked long enough to understand the local market and the range of housing options available? Could there be another, even better listing on the market, perhaps at a better price?  more...

Misrepresenting square footage can get a seller into big trouble. If a buyer relies on a seller's disclosure about the living square feet in his home and the buyer later finds out that the representation was overly ambitious, a lawsuit could ensue.

Sellers have a tendency to round up the number of square feet in their home. The more cautious approach would be to round down. The safest approach would be to make no representation about square feet at all. In an ideal world, this would be the perfect solution.  more...

Buyers tend to want listings that are in move-in condition. For that reason, sellers often put a lot of time and money into prepping their homes for market to realize the largest profit possible from the sale. But, is it worthwhile to fix a property up before selling if it is in a dismal state?  more...

Most home buyers claim they're picky. And why shouldn't they be? The real estate they buy will be home. It needs to provide more than just a roof over their head. It needs to satisfy emotional needs that aren't easily quantifiable. The home is a reflection of the self, which makes the quest for the right place to buy complicated.  more...

Some sellers won't even consider a contingent-sale offer. If the buyer's house doesn't sell, the deal if off and the seller has to find another buyer. To increase your chance of success if you make an offer contingent on the sale of your home, it helps to look at your offer from the seller's perspective.

Keep in mind that the seller knows nothing about you or the property you need to sell. Common seller concerns are: How salable is your property? Will you price it right for the market?  more...

Dealing with a city's building department can be a nuisance, depending on where you live. The cost of obtaining permits ups the overall cost of a project. However, skipping the permit process can potentially cost you much more.

One homeowner jeopardized a profitable home sale because a significant remodel to the house was done without required building permits. In this case, the renovations added about 1,000 square feet to the building. The buyer's appraiser searched the public record for the recorded square footage of the house.  more...

Recently buyers who were in contract to purchase a home in Oakland, Calif., asked the seller to credit them money in escrow. The money was to be applied toward repairs that were recommended in the course of the buyers' inspections.  more...

It's easy to assume that negotiating is adversarial. You, the buyer, are on one side -- the side that wants to buy a property for the lowest price possible. The opposition on the other side is the seller who wants to sell for the highest price possible. You're locked in a tug of war to see which side will win.  more...

Waiting until the last minute to get your home ready to sell is bound to make your move more stressful. It could also result in a lower sale price if you forego properly preparing your home for sale.

The extent to which sellers put time and money into fix-up-for-sale work varies from one area to the next. In the San Francisco Bay Area, so many sellers stage their homes for sale that you could be at a disadvantage if your home is not staged. In other areas of the country, sellers do virtually nothing to ready their homes for sale.  more...

No one wants to buy a house that's riddled with termites. So, a termite inspection -- technically an inspection for damage by any kind of wood-destroying organisms -- is usually done at some point during the course of a home sale.

Loosely referred to as a termite inspection, an inspection for wood pests covers such organisms as dry rot, fungus, wood-boring beetles, carpenter ants -- to name a few -- in addition to termites. Who pays to repair the damage varies, often depending on market conditions.  more...